Remember your lifelines!

It's Reading Period. Lamont is abuzz with students in need of study spaces, computers to work on, reserve readings to catch up on . . . and, of course, books, articles, and media materials for getting research projects done.

In the frenzy to finish "things" for your classes, however, don't forget that there's a network of people resources you can tap into as well. Helpful Harvard librarians are available in every corner of the Yard.

If your class had a library research workshop this term, chances are good that an email or phone number is listed on a library handout or research guide, linked to your course iSite, or buried somewhere deep in the notes you took that day. Now's the time to dig that contact information up!

If you haven't met one of us this usual way, ask a TF, Peer Advising Fellow, suitemate or friend for names of the librarians they know or have worked with in the past. Word of mouth brings students to us all the time. In those instances when we can't answer your questions as fully as you need, we'll know which of our library colleagues you should be talking to next. We won't just pass you on: we'll make sure you get in touch!

And if you're camping out in Lamont -- or any other Harvard library -- during Reading Period, don't hesitate to bring your onsite questions to a Reference Desk.

Every day, we talk with students who are looking for fast facts, persuasive evidence for their arguments, primary and secondary source materials, reputable scholarship and cutting edge research. We answer questions on everything from using e-resources and identifying search terms to citing correctly and avoiding plagiarism.

All you need to do is ask!

(Hat tip to Steve, for drawing the image!)

Which Citation Tools Are You Using?

Do you use RefWorks, EndNote, or some other application to manage your research citations? How can Harvard librarians help? Take a quick Citation Tools Poll to let us know.

Study Space Getting Tight?

The library can get crowded during Reading Period and exams. But Lamont has recently opened four new study spaces. See our previous post for more information, or ask a library staff member.

Cool Tools on the Web: NGO and IGO publications at your fingertips!

A while back, we profiled HURIsearch, a "custom search engine," available freely on the web, that brings together the publications of thousands of human rights web sites worldwide.

Thanks to the efforts of librarians at Stanford and Northwestern, we now have a couple of other really good CSEs to recommend to you, one for materials produced by intergovernmental organizations and one for NGOs.

Like human rights, issues around development,the environment, global health, and civil society generally are popular areas of study at Harvard. Our library e-resources will obviously enable you to investigate these issues across the disciplinary spectrum and from a range of scholarly perspectives. IGO and NGO materials have research value of another kind. Many of these materials -- brochures, field reports, policy papers, program evaluations, and the like -- never make their way into e-resources. And increasingly, these items are only published online.

So what does the IGO custom search offer you? For starters, it surfaces information on the web sites of nearly 500 organizations, including the U.N., the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund

The NGO custom search is wider, canvassing almost 1200 sites, from the Carter Center to Oxfam to the World Water Council and from Doctors without Borders to Transparency International to the U.S. Institute of Peace.

In the last month, we've fielded questions on topics like tuberculosis treatments in Peru, food security in the United States, the effect of drought on the livelihoods of Kenya's farmers, and the plight of internally displaced persons in conflict zones. NGO and IGO work added depth and new dimension to the students' thinking in each case.

But see for yourself! Test out the NGO/IGO links above. Like us, you may be surprised at what you'll find!

Our popular research workshops return today!

If you're just now beginning a research project and missed our October series of one-hour workshops, you're in luck!

We're offering them again, this week and next, in the Barker Center's Thompson Room.

The workshops are sponsored by the Harvard Writing Program, the Writing Center, and the Harvard College Library.

The first of the two workshops happens today, November 12th, at 4:15 p.m. You can RSVP for one (or both!) by sending an email to expos@fas.harvard.edu.

Here's a description of what the workshops will cover:

Thursday, November 12, 4:15-5:15 pm. Barker Center, Thompson Room

Getting Yourself Started.  Find out about essential and efficient strategies for launching your next research project, including how to decode a paper assignment, how to plan your stages of research and drafting, and how best to use Harvard College Library's vast online resources to locate credible sources. Lamont librarian Sue Gilroy and Widener librarian Kathleen Sheehan will answer your questions and offer you tips and tricks for searching more skillfully.

Wednesday, November 18, 4:15-5:15 pm. Sever Hall, Room 102

Evaluating and Using Your Sources. Learn about how to evaluate sources once you've gathered them for a research paper, and how to integrate source material into your own paper without accidentally plagiarizing. You'll hear tips on how to assess which sources are most relevant to your paper, how to determine the role each source may play in your argument, and how to summarize, paraphrase, and quote effectively.